Hug your pets tonight

Hello friends, so sorry this blog has had a bout of radio silence.  The past few months have been pretty hectic, but I am hoping to spend more time on all my blogs now.  

There is something happening that pet owners need to be aware of.  For the second time in a month, I have heard of an attempted or successful pet robbery.  Both times involved dogs that were safely confined in their owners' yards.  Each time the owner turned their back for just a moment.  With the first incident, the owner returned to see a strange man holding her dogs.  When questioned, he said they got loose and he was returning them.  In the second incident, when the owner returned, the dog was gone.  Last I heard, the dog was still missing, and the suspected thief was a neighbor.

These incidents happened hundreds of miles apart.  I just do not understand what would possess a person to steal someone's pet.  In both cases, I believe, these were indoor pets, who were outside for recreation and potty trips.  It only took seconds for the situations to occur.

I know I am guilty of opening the back door, and letting the dogs run outside and play, while I wash dishes or cook in the kitchen.  I keep an eye on them, but clearly, it only takes seconds for someone to try to steal your pets, even from the safety of your enclosed yard.  So, please, I beg you, hug your pets a little tighter tonight, and keep a close eye on them at all times.

Write a Post, Help a Dog

As many of you know, I write 3 different blogs, each one showcasing different passions of mine.  I write a book review blog, a small town life blog, and of course this blog about my furry little loves.  So, I have blogger friends who specialize in all kinds of different blogs.  One of these friends is Melissa from Books and Things. Melissa loves to read, just like me, and she also is a pet parent, also like me.  So when I saw her blog about something amazing that would help shelter dogs, I had to get on board.

The Pedigree Foundation and Pedigree dogfood has, in the past, had a blogging program where any time a blogger wrote a blog for the program, 20 pounds of dogfood were donated to a specific shelter.  The program is called Write a Post, Help a Dog.  Last year, nearly 400 bloggers participated, resulting in 7,820 pounds of dog food donated.  How amazing is this.  Well, this year, the program is back, and I am doing my part to help.  And I am hoping you will too!  In fact, you can copy all the info below for your blog post!

How you can help in 2011

Simply spread the word about Write a Post, Help a Dog 2011 and once again Pedigree will donate 20 pounds of food for each blogger's post. Here's all you need to include in your post:

The Write a Post, Help a Dog program is aimed at raising awareness and food for the more than four million dogs that wind up in shelters and breed rescues each year.

For each blog post mentioning the Pedigree Foundation from now until midnight ET on September 3, Pedigree will donate 20 pounds of its new dry Pedigree recipe food for dogs -- its best recipe ever -- to a shelter, because every dog deserves leading nutrition.

The Pedigree Foundation -- a 501 (C)(3) nonprofit organization is committed to helping dogs by providing grants to shelters and rescues and encouraging dog adoption. This year the Foundation has already raised more than $376,570 against its goal of $1.5 million to carry out its work to fund grants that not only help shelters operate, but to further shelter innovations.

The Pedigree Foundation depends on charitable contributions from individuals to carry out its mission to help dogs find loving homes. In addition to writing a blog post, here's how you can help:

Donate online at http://pedigreefoundation.org/donate.aspx

Apply for a shelter grant from the Pedigree Foundation by completing a form at www.pedigreefoundation.org

Purchase Dogs Rule Gear at www.dogsrulegear.com where the proceeds go to the Pedigree Foundation to help loving dogs find a home. SPECIAL OFFER: Get 10 percent off Dogs Rule Gear by using the promo code BlogPaws10 from August 22 - September 30.

Then, link up to our Blog Hop below, hosted by the Pedigree BlogPaws bloggers to help spread the word about Write a Post, Help a Dog.  I really hope many of you will consider blogging to help such a wonderful cause!

The Power of Two

This totally warms my heart.

In honor of National Dog Day this week, there was a photo contest in which we entered the dogs' photos.  I sent my Hubby several possibilities.  He showed one in particular to his coworker, M.  M has a doxie as well, and has been begging her husband for a second one.  He has been resistant, and Hubby has been telling M what a good thing it has been for Dex to get a little sister.  So, Hubby sends M the picture.  M forwards it to her husband.

Her husband responds by saying, OK, we are getting a second doxie.

So, this picture right here, helped make M a very happy woman, and is going to send a doxie to a loving home where he or she will have a great older sibling.

Yeah, my dogs are just that awesome.

Lookie what I got!

This past weekend was a big arts and crafts festival in our town.  The vendors include lots of people with doggie themed wares, collars, coats, toys, that kind of stuff.  I looked for something for the doggies, but nothing caught my eye.

As we were walking along a stretch, we saw a vendor who made really cute woodworking items.  We had bought something from this particular vendor last year at a different festival, and we had it customized with our last name.  When we saw one of his new items, at an incredibly reasonable price, we could not resist.

Isn't it the cutest?

Pampered, by Chloe

Mommy and Daddy often spoil me, but today really took the cake.  It has been so hot, as many of you know, and with my fur being longer and shaggier than Dexter's, I tend to be uncomfortable in the heat.  Today, Mommy helped make me feel better by taking me for my very first haircut.

I think it was tougher on Mommy than on me, since she had to leave me alone with a stranger, but I really did not mind.  Mommy stayed in the store and watched most of the time.  The ladies complimented me on how well I behaved.  It felt so good to get a little trim.

They put cute little bows in my hair once I was all trimmed up.

AND

Mommy paid a little extra to get my nails painted!

I felt so special and pretty.  I even posed for a few pictures when we got home.

But let me tell you, all this pampering has me pooped, so I am going to take nap.

Love,
Chloe

Travel Tips

Hello friends!  I am hoping some of you can help me out.  We are having a bit of trouble traveling with Dexter.  When we first got him, and he was the only dog in our house, he traveled just fine.  He wanted to sit on my lap in the car, but other than that, he did great.

How that we have two dogs, traveling is more complicated.  Chloe does great, she sleeps in the backseat, she never fusses if we leave our room without her, she does get scared when pottying in a new place, but otherwise, she is a breeze.  It is Dex that is the issue.  He now gets very excited in the car, almost agitated.  He paces and jumps and claws, it is awful.  On our most recent trip, we bought a calming collar for him, and it worked like a charm.  He spent most of the drive sleeping in the back seat with Chloe.  The only time he got agitated was when we went through a drive through for lunch, and that was only because he wanted our french fries.  He was an angel;  I thought we were home free.

I could not have been more wrong.  The trouble was once we checked into the hotel we were staying at.  He would totally freak out when we would leave the room.  His excessive barks could be heard throughout the hotel.  And when we returned, he had totally detroyed the plastic tray that serves as the bottom of his crate.  It was awful.  I am at such a loss as to what to do.  We really want to be able to continue taking them on trips with us, but if his behavior continues like this, we just cannot.  It is not good for him to be getting this upset, and it is really stressful for us.

So, friends, do any of you have any suggestions as to how we can handle this behavior, and how to make traveling with the dogs more enjoyable for all of us?

What I Like About You- Chloe Edition

Oh Chloe.  Miss Peepants.  Chloebell.  Chloenstein.  Chloe Bear.  Sally Draper.  You honestly have made our family complete.  I was so nervous about adding a second puppy to the family, but you were our missing piece.  There is so so much I love about you.

First off, your ears. From the day we brought you home, your ears had the cutest little curls on them.

You ears were really the only indication, for a long time, that you were a long haired doxie. The rest of you is starting to catch up, but your ears are still the shaggiest part of you. They are like permanent pigtails, and I just love it.


Next, your eyes.

You have such soulful brown eyes. You are my brown eyed girl. They always look a little sad, because your fur around them is so dark, so it looks like you have on black eyeliner. Such an emo puppy. And don't get me started on how cute that snoot is.


Next up, your personality. And for such a tiny dog, your personality is huge.

From the minute we brought you home, you ruled the roost. You are miss sassafras. You bully Dexter, you bully Nora, and you are smaller than them both. You climb stairs, and leap off of the couch. You give daddy special kisses by "booping" him, and you kiss my by licking my eye. You have so many weird quirks, like rolling in the grass, but that is what makes you special. Now, if only we could get you potty trained.

But I think most of all, I love that you are Daddy's Girl.

Because for a long time, it was just me and Dex all day everyday, he is such a Mama's Boy. I am glad that you and Daddy have your own special bond, even though you show that you love me lots as well. It makes me all warm and fuzzy when we all sit on the couch together, and you fall asleep in Daddy's arms.

In short, Miss Thang, you have made us complete. And I love you to pieces.